Summer Vacation 2007, Days 11 and 12

Monday 13 August 2007
We woke up to rain coming in through the hatch. We got up and battened down the hatches and went back to sleep. When we woke up again, it was sunny and starting to get hot again.

There were a few things we needed to do in town on Monday. Todd was still trying to get the radar installed and working, and spent a part of the morning on the phone with Raymarine technical support. Then we needed to get some solder from the hardware store and he also needed to find a shop with a drill press so that he could drill some holes in the bracket that the radar head will sit on.

The trolley took us to the hardware store, and then I went off to pick up a few groceries while Todd hit up the local boat yards in search of a drill press. I found the groceries, and Todd found his drill press, then we met up for ice cream and to buy a birthday present for our nephew, Krystian.

We headed back to the boat to swim off the heat of the day. We took the dingy across the river from the mooring to an island with a beach on it. This island is secluded, and is a great spot for the dogs to run free and swim from shore. We swam, the dogs ran, and even Nemo swam a bit—which is not his favorite thing to do. But when it is hot enough he’ll wade in until the water us up to his neck, and then he might paddle a bit here and there.

We headed back to the boat to prepare for Maggie and Krystian’s arrival aboard. Maggie is 12, almost 13, and Krys is 11. We cleaned, we got dressed, Todd tinkered with the radar a bit more and left it just as frustrated as when he began.

My sister in law, Melissa, called us to let us know they were on shore. They arrived on the launch, and Maggie and Krystian got settled in, then we went ashore for dinner at the Black Seal. After dinner Melissa and her youngest daughter, Hali, headed back to their home, while Todd, Maggie, Krys and I all sat on deck to plan out our week’s adventure. We laughed about the glow of the Pepsi machine on the gas dock causing a shocking amount of light pollution as it cast it's light over the Connecticut River, and I knew it would be a start to a wonderful leg of the trip.

Tuesday 14 August 2007

We woke up to another perfect weather day. The plan for the day was to head back over to Noank, CT. We had to wait for the tide to return to our favor, so we spent the morning swimming off that island again after Griffen and I returned from our morning jog. The water was warm, we splashed each other and the dogs swam happily right along with us.

We headed back to the boat and got ourselves organized for the sail over to Noank. We waited for the railroad drawbridge to open up for us—it is always such a treat for me to see drawbridges open from the water. The winds were against us to Noank, so we motored for much of the way with the main sail up to stabilize the boat. We tied up to the dock, and got ready to head into Mystic for some pizza and ice cream.

We dinghied into Mystic, just like we had done almost a week before. Maggie and Krys each learned how to drive the dinghy, and they drove for most of the trip. We went under the rotating train bridge, and then under the Mystic River drawbridge to head over to the historic Mystic Seaport. The Seaport has some old tall whaling ships on display that we were able to get close to right in the dinghy.

We tied up to the dinghy dock and walked over to the drawbridge. The bridge was about to open, so we decided we would stay and watch it open. A loud train horn blows when the bridge is about to open, this time the horn surprised Maggie so much that she shrieked and jumped off the ledge she was sitting on. We all laughed at her reaction, and she ended up laughing too. The horn blew a second time, just to elicit the same reaction out of Maggie.

We went to Mystic Pizza and told Maggie and Krys all about a Julia Roberts movie being filmed there. They hadn’t seen or heard of the movie, however. It is before their time, and maybe they will stumble upon it when they are older and check it out because they ate at the restaurant. We headed back for ice cream, and watched the bridge open again as well as we ate our ice cream. Maggie was prepared with her hands over her ears this time around.

We headed back to the rotating railroad bridge, and waited for it to open. We are short enough to fit under the bridge in the dinghy, but we wanted to wait for it to open. Just before the bridge opens you can hear a loud ZAP of the electric lines for the train being disconnected. We turned off the dinghy motor and waited for the telltale ZZZAAAAP and then watched the bridge open.

We got back into the boat and went over the plan for the next day. The forecast was predicting 2-4 foot seas for Wednesday, and 4-6 foot seas for Thursday. We decided that Wednesday would be the day to go back into Narragansett Bay, and then we would play inside the bay and out of the weather for the remainder of the week.